Z52.2,  * 


VV\  13c, 


The  World's  Debt  to  Missionaries. 

(abridged.) 


MRS.  JENNIE  B.  IIANNUM. 


{Read  at  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Illinois  Branch  at 
Moline ,  April ,  1892.) 

To  attempt  anything  like  a  complete  summary 
of  what  the  world  owes  to  missionaries  would  be  a 
task  beyond  our  powerand  space.  We  can  only  take 
the  merest  glance  at  some  phases  of  the  work,  for  it 
is  many-sided. 

AVHAT  HAVE  THEY  DONE  FOR  US. 

We  have  personal  reasons  for  gratitude  to  mission¬ 
aries,  for  we  owe  it  to  them  that  we  are  not  living  in 
hollow  trees,  painting  our  faces  blue,  and  praying  to 
the  fire  and  sun,  as  did  our  ancestors,  if  we  are  Eng¬ 
lish;  following  the  lead  of  Odin  and  Wodin,  the  gods 
of  war  and  thunder,  if  we  came  of  Scandinavian 
stock;  worshipping  invisible  spirits  in  groves,  if  Ger¬ 
many  was  our  fatherland.  Patient,  faithful  men  and 
women  came  from  far  and  brought  Christian  civili- 


2 


zation  to  those  nations,  and  we  are  ungrateful  indeed 
if  we  do  not  pass  it  on  to  others. 

Though  some  missionary  work  has  been  done  for 
centuries  past,  yet  modern  Protestant  missions  are 
just  completing  their  first  hundred  years.  Only  two 
of  the  many  societies  now  at  work  date  back  of  the 
year  1800,  “The  London  Society  for  the  Propagation 
of  the  Gospel”  and  the  Moravian  Missions  being 
longer  at  work.  The  work  is  increasing  in  a  marvel¬ 
lous  manner,  as  the  past  fifty  years  have  accomplished 
more  than  ten  times  that  of  the  previous  fifty.  But 
of  moral  enterprises  the  most  valuable  results  are  in¬ 
visible  and  impalpable;  we  can  only  note  some  of  the 
outward  effects  and  leave  to  time  and  eternity  to  un¬ 
fold  the  rest. 

THE  PRESENT  MISSIONARY  FORCE. 

Let  us  look  first  at  the  size  of  this  agency  for  the 
Christianizing  of  the  world.  There  are  now,  at  the 
beginning  of  1892,  one  hundred  and  seventy  societies 
directed  by  men,  and  one  hundred  and  ten  managed 
by  women.  At  work  under  these  societies  there  are 
7,700  missionaries,  male  and  female.  These  are  aided 
by  a  force  of  36,000  native  preachers  and  teachers, 
making  a  total  of  43,700.  Surely  this  is  an  army  of 
no  mean  size,  and  stationed  as  it  is  in  nearly  every 
non-Christian  country  of  the  world,  something  great 
must  be  accomplished  by  it. 

Who  are  these  men  and  women  who  have  gone  to 


3 


the  front  in  this  warfare?  Religious  enthusiasts? 
People  with  an  idea  they  want  to  promulgate?  Rest¬ 
less  mortals  who  wish  to  disturb  the  peace  and  quiet 
in  which  these  distant  peoples  have  been  living  by 
adding  theological  discord  and  religious  unrest. 

As  far  from  this  as  possible.  Most  of  them  are 
men  and  women  of  the  best  mental  and  spiritual  cul¬ 
ture.  The  kinds  of  work  to  be  done  by  them  call 
for  varied  abilities  and  much  demands  a  high  order 
of  talent. 


LINGUISTIC  WORK. 

Take  the  linguistic  work  accomplished.  The 
Bible  has  been  translated  by  them  into  269  languages. 
In  189  of  these  Roman  characters  have  been  used,  for 
we  must  remember  that  a  great  many  of  these  peo¬ 
ples  had  no  written  language  until  the  missionaries 
framed  one  for  them.  Think  of  the  immense  amount 
of  labor  this  work  must  have  involved!  In  many 
cases  the  language  has  proved  pitifully  meager,  hav¬ 
ing  no  words  to  express  home,  love,  or  anything  good 
or  sacred.  The  translators  must  supply  these  words 
from  their  own  language,  and  as  the  great  majority 
of  them  are  English-speaking,  they  have  been  the 
great  factors  in  spreading  our  language,  which  is 
fast  becoming  the  dominant  language  of  the  world. 
Years  must  be  spent  in  acquiring  the  language  and 
translating  some  books  into  it,  and  years  again  in 
teaching  it  to  the  natives  and  their  children. 


4 


MANUAL  TRAINING. 

A  great  deal  must  be  done  besides  this.  It  is  much 
the  same  as  rearing  a  child  from  infancy  in  each  in¬ 
dividual  case,  as  with  only  a  few  exceptions  the  na¬ 
tives  of  the  countries  to  which  the  missionaries  have 
gone  must  be  taught  everything,  from  the  use  of  a 
needle  to  clothe  themselves,  the  use  of  saw,  plane 
and  hammer  to  build  their  houses,  up  to  the  highest 
arts  of  civilization. 

Manual  training  is  now  given  in  most  of  the  mis¬ 
sion  stations  where  there  is  need  for  it,  so  our  mis¬ 
sionaries  must  be  fitted  to  instruct  in  such  things. 
Recently  a  good  many  mechanics  have  accompanied 
the  teachers,  but  in  many  cases  one  has  taught  all. 

MEDICAL  MISSIONS. 

•  A  great  work  is  being  done  by  medical  missiona¬ 
ries,  fifty  of  whom  are  supported  by  the  women  of 
this  country.  The  arts  of  healing  practiced  by  the 
heathen,  even  the  most  enlightened  of  them,  were 
found  to  be  most  barbarous,  and  it  was  soon  found 
that  medical  skill  won  the  way  to  their  hearts  soon¬ 
er  than  anything  else.  Lady  physicians  find  their 
way  into  the  homes  of  India,  China  and  Japan  when 
no  one  else  can .  All  medical  service  is  accompanied 
by  instruction  in  morals  and  religion. 

EXPLORATION. 

Before  going  further  in  the  line  of  work  for  the 
heathen,  let  me  mention  other  incidental  benefits. 


5 


We  all  know  of  the  great  service  rendered  the  world 
by  Livingstone  as  explorer  and  discoverer.  Much  of 
the  same  kind  of  service  has  been  rendered  by  other 
missionaries  since.  Indeed,  Europe  had  not  known 
that  Africa  was  so  well  worth  dividing  and  appor¬ 
tioning  among  its  various  countries,  had  not  these 
faithful  workers  brought  its  wealth  to  light  while 
hunting  for  the  dark  sons  and  daughters  of  the  race 
to  give  them  light  and  life. 

MATERIAL  WEALTH. 

Rich  mines  and  other  material  wealth  have  been 
discovered  and  are  being  worked  under  the  direction 
of  men  who  along  with  their  theological  training 
took  also  instruction  in  mining  and  engineering. 

Commerce  has  followed  close  in  the  wake  of  the 
missionaries.  The  man  who  looks  ruefully  after  the 
departing  dollar  he  gave  to  missions  as  gone  to  be 
seen  no  more,  is  mistaken.  Let  me  quote  from  Gen. 
Armstrong:  “America,  through  the  American  Board, 
expended  in  fifty  years  a  million  and  a  quarter  dol¬ 
lars  to  evangelize  Hawaii,  and  during  that  time  has 
received  about  $4,000,000  a  year  in  trade.  England’s 
missions  are  said  to  bring  back  about  £10  sterling  for 
every  pound  given  to  convert  the  heathen.” 

There  are  reflex  influences  of  mission  work  that 
might  be  mentioned  and  dwelt  upon  had  we  time. 
The  awakening  and  developing  of  sentiments  of  pity 
and  sympathy  all  over  the  world,  as  the  knowledge 


6 


of  the  condition  of  millions  of  our  fellow  men  eame 
to  them,  has  been  a  great  uplift.  A  belief  in  the 
brotherhood  of  man  has  spread  over  the  world.  An¬ 
other  and  minor  benefit  has  been  the  furnishing  of  a 
new  avenue  of  thought  and  work  to  thousands;  es¬ 
pecially  has  it  been  helpful  to  women.  A  feeling  of 
unrest  and  dissatisfaction  with  a  narrow  sphere  has 
come  to  a  host  of  other  women  beside  Mrs.  Liv¬ 
ermore  and  Susan  B.  Anthony,  and  mission  work  and 
temperance  work  has  been  the  healthful  outcome  o^ 
it. 

"WHAT  MISSIONARIES  HAVE  DONE  FOR  OTHER  LANDS. 

Early  in  the  century  merchant  vessels  began  to 
stop  at  the  Sandwich,  or  Hawaiian  Islands.  In  1809 
a  sea  captain  brought  a  lad  named  Henry  Obookiah 
from  there  to  New  Haven,  Conn.  He  lingered  around 
the  college  thirsting  for  instruction.  From  him  and 
five  others  brought  later,  Henry  Bingham  and  Asa 
Thurston  gathered  information  that  awakened  a  de¬ 
sire  to  go  to  those  islands  and  give  them  the  light  the 
Gospel  brings. 

March  31,  1820,  a  company  of  missionaries  and 
their  wives  reached  Kalui  Bay  and  awaited  the  close 
of  a  fourteen  days’  conference  between  the  king  and 
chiefs;  the*  chiefs  contending  that  they  had  come 
as  enemies,  but  the  king  said,  “When  men  come  to 
kill  they  do  not  bring  their  wives  along.” 

On  landing  they  found  that  a  revolution  had  taken 


7 


place,  and  that  the  people  had  lost  faith  in  their  idols- 
and  that  a  system  of  “tabu”  that  had  long  held  them 
in  bondage  was  broken. 

The  king  and  chiefs  with  their  families,  were  the 
first  pupils,  the  king’s  mother  the  first  convert.  “In 
1863,  50,000  had  been  received  into  the  communion  of 
the  churches.  The  islands  were  christianized  and 
educated,  the  Bible  was  found  in  eveiy  home, 
churches  and  schools  were  provided  for  all  the  inhab¬ 
itants.  Two  female  seminaries,  a  normal  school  and 
a  theological  institute  furnished  the  higher  education 
to  legislators,  preachers  and  teachers.  A  greater 
proportion  of  the  population  could  read  and  write 
than  in  New  England.” 

The  history  of  a  great  many  of  the  fields  is  of 
thrilling  interest,  but  only  a  few  can  be  mentioned. 

THE  NEW  HEBRIDES. 

The  New  Hebrides  islands  in  the  South  Pacific, 
were  first  made  known  to  the  world  by  Captain 
Cook.  The  people  were  the  most  degraded  of  hu¬ 
man  beings.  A  missionary  from  Novia  Scotia  went 
there  in  1848.  He  labored  on  the  island  of  Aneityum. 
A  tablet  in  one  of  the  churches  there  records  this  of 
him,  “When  he  came  here  in  1848  there  were  no 
Christians,  when  he  clied  in  1872  there  were  no 
heathen.” 


8 


NEW  GUINEA. 

Look  next  at  New  Guinea.  You  remember  the 
pictures  of  these  people  in  the  geographies  we  stud¬ 
ied  when  children — unclad  savages  with  heads  like 
bushel  baskets  in  size,  with  war  clubs  in  their  hands. 
New  Guinea  is  the  largest  and  one  of  the  most  beau¬ 
tiful  islands  in  the  world. 

From  an  address  before  the  British  and  Foreign 
Bible  Society  by  Mr.  Lawes,  we  learn  something  of 
the  work  there.  Mr.  Lawes  returned  to  London  af¬ 
ter  thirty  years  of  labor,  eleven  on  the  savage  islands 
and  seventeen  in  New  Guinea.  Ilehadleft  the  work 
on  the  first  islands  with  his  brother.  We  can  judge 
something  of  its  progress  by  the  fact  that  the  5,000 
inhabitants  had  contributed  £1500  sterling  to  the 
Bible  Society  in  the  last  year.  Of  New  Guinea  as  it 
was  seventeen  years  ago  he  says,  “Darkness,  gross 
darkness,  covered  the  land;  beneath  the  feathery 
frondage  of  the  palm,  cannibalism  and  every  other 
abomination  flourished/’ 

At  the  first  services  he  attended,  the  savages  were 
present  in  all  the  glory  of  feathers  and  paint.  They 
knew  nothing  of  writing  and  printing;  had  never 
seen  a  book.  They  were  teachable,  and  before 
years  had  gone  by  there  was  great  demand  for  Eng¬ 
lish  newspapers,  yet  not  for  reading,  but  to  clothe 
themselves  with  the  “ London  Times ”  being  most 
in  demand,  because  it  was  thickest  and  strongest! 
Mr.  Lawes  was  greatly  aided  in  his  work  by  helpers 


9 


from  the  savage  and  other  islands  who  could  under¬ 
stand  in  some  measure  the  language. 

Many  languages  are  spoken  in  New  Guinea.  They 
selected  the  one  most  widely  used,  and  patiently, 
along  with  the  work  of  teaching  the  arts  of  civiliza¬ 
tion,  he  studied  its  structure,  reduced  it  to  writing, 
taught  them  to  read  and  write,  and  after  seventeen 
years  of  labor  he  took  the  long  journey  of  14,000 
miles  to  London  bearing  the  precious  manuscripts 
containing  the  translated  Bible  for  publication. 
Speaking  of  his  work  he  says,  ‘  ‘Of  course  some  nouns 
have  to  be  introduced  in  translating  for  a  people  who 
have  no  corn  or  wine,  no  cattle  or  sheep,  no  silk  01 
fine  linen,  no  minerals  or  money,  but  these  are  very 
soon  understood  and  assimilated.”  The  results  there 
have  been  as  marvelous  as  in  Hawaii. 

MADAGASCAR. 

We  cross  over  to  Madagascar.  Our  acquaintance 
with  this  dates  back  to  1820,  when  a  representative 
of  the  British  crown  went  there  to  establish  some 
treaty  relations  for  the  purposes  of  trade.  The  king 
of  the  Hovas,  the  ruling  tribe,  asked  this  English¬ 
man  how  he  could  make  his  people  more  like  the 
other  nations.  He  replied,  “If  you  wish  to  catch  up 
with  the  rest  of  the  world,  you  must  have  schools 
and  teachers,  churches  and  preachers.”  The  king 
promised  protection  if  these  should  be  sent.  The 
London  Missionary  Society  sent  a  number  of  mis¬ 
sionaries,  teachers,  and  artisans.  The  people  weie 


10 

taught  carpentry,  weaving,  tanning  and  blacksmith 
work.  The  language  was  acquired,  reduced  to 
writing,  books  printed  and  schools  established. 

Everything  moved  off  in  a  most  hopeful  way  for 
eight  years,  when  the  king  died.  He  had  designed 
that  one  of  his  sons,  who  was  being  educated  in  the 
mission  schools,  should  succeed  him,  but  one  of  his 
twelve  wives  seized  the  throne,  killed  all  who  could 
contest  her  claims,  and  was  Ranavalona  I.  She 
reigned  thirty-three  years.  Bloody  Queen  Mary  be¬ 
comes  almost  a  saint  compared  with  her.  She  set 
herself  to  root  out  Christianity  from  her  dominion. 
The  missionaries  fled  from  the  island,  the  converts 
were  put  to  death  in  every  imaginable  way.  She 
thought  she  had  accomplished  her  design,  but  many 
had  gone  to  the  mountain  fastnesses  and  made  them¬ 
selves  homes  there. 

When  Radama  II,  the  lamb-like  son  of  this  lioness, 
came  to  the  throne,  40,000  Christians,  made  so  by 
reading  the  Book  of  books,  came  back  to  their  homes. 
And  100,000  more  were  found  who  had  abandoned 
their  idols  and  were  ready  to  embrace  Christianity. 
Radama  proved  a  weak  king,  he  abolished  all  export 
and  import  duties,  and  as  a  result  such  a  flood  of 
rum  poured  in  upon  them  that  intemperance  came 
near  wrecking  all  good  work. 

The  king  himself  became  a  drunkard,  and  issued 
some  disastrous  edicts  while  intoxicated.  It  was  a 
relief  when  his  reign  ended  a  few  years  later.  At 


11 


his  death  a  new  constitution  was  framed  with  a  few 
simple  provisions,  the  first  of  which  was,  “The  sov¬ 
ereign  shall  not  drink  spirituous  liquors. 

A  queen  followed  who  was  a  good  and  just  luler, 
though  not  a  Christian.  She  died  April  1,  1868,  and 
the  next  day  her  niece,  a  devout  Christian  girl,  be¬ 
came  queen.  At  the  late  London  Council  1500 
Congregational  churches  in  Madagascar  wei  e  i  ecei ved 
into  fellowship. 

JAPAN. 

Roman  Catholic  missionaries  found  their  way  to 
this  island  kingdom  in  1549.  About  one  hundred 
years  later  they  claimed  2,000,000  converts,  and 
seemed  to  be  trying  to  seize  the  government.  They 
were  expelled  with  great  slaughter,  and  an  edict 
pronouncing  death  to  any  Christian  who  should  enter 
the  kingdom  was  issued.  Ports  were  closed  and  al 
seaworthy  vessels  destroyed,  so  as  to  keep  their  own 
people  at  home.  This  lasted  about  two  hundred  and 
fifty  years.  We  know  the  story  of  Commodore  Perry 
and  his  guns.  As  a  result  of  his  visit,  a  treaty  was 
established  in  1858  opening  certain  ports  July  4, 1859. 

Representatives  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  and 
Presbyterian  Societies  of  the  United  States  were 
waiting  outside  to  enter.  By  January  1,  1860,  three 
missions  were  established.  A  little  later,  tlnee  othei 
men,  one  a  Japanese  who  had  come  to  this  country 
with  Perry  and  could  act  as  interpreter,  entered  the 
country.  For  the  next  ten  years  these  four  Ameri- 


12 


can  societies  occupied  the  field.  Never  was  a  com¬ 
pany  of  men  and  women  busier  than  were  these  dur¬ 
ing  those  years.  It  was  a  period  of  political  upheav¬ 
al  and  unparalleled  mental  activity  in  the  kingdom, 
and  these  men  were  sought  for  as  advisers  and  teach, 
ers  of  those  high  in  state. 

Dr.  Verbeck  was  a  fluent  speaker  of  several  lan¬ 
guages,  and  eminently  fitted  by  his  temperament  and 
versatile  powers  and  scholarship  to  be  the  adviser  of 
the  new  men  who  found  themselves  at  the  helm  of 
state  after  the  revolution  of  1868.  He  taught  large 
classes  of  young  men,  and  from  1864  to  1878  was  in 
government  educational  service  at  his  own  charges. 
When,  in  1872,  an  embassy  was  organized  to  go 
around  the  world  and  study  western  civilization  and 
ask  of  the  treaty  powers,  “Justice  to  Japan,”  Dr- 
Verbeck  found  that  one-half  its  members  liad  been 
his  pupils.  When  Japan,  in  1870,  sent  to  this  coun¬ 
try  and  some  of  the  foremost  European  States  for 
chosen  men,  teachers,  scholars  and  statesmen  to  aid 
in  laying  anew  the  foundations  of  government,  many 
were  selected  by  the  advice  of  the  early  missionaries. 
One  who  went  over  at  the  request  of  the  government 
to  superintend  the  establishment  of  schools,  was  Dr. 
Griffis,  of  Boston.  He  speDt  many  years  there  trans¬ 
lating  and  preparing  books  for  their  youth  to  study. 
He  is  probably  the  best  authority  on  the  question  as 
to  whether  Japan  needs  the  Gospel. 

We  can  best  say  what  has  been  done  in  a  country 


13 


when  we  know  what  needed  to  be  done.  Two  sys¬ 
tems  of  religion  were  found  to  prevail  there,  Shinto, 
the  state  religion,  which  seemed  to  be  made  up  of 
fetichism,  the  worship  of  charms  and  ancestral  wor¬ 
ship.  Buddhism,  a  system  of  ethics,  imported  from 
Corea  in  552  A.  D.  In  1887  there  were  192,359 
shrines  and  temples  of  Shintoism,  and  71,991  of 
Buddhism. 

The  common  people  seemed  equally  given  to  su_ 
perstition  and  idol  worship,  according  to  their  re¬ 
spective  sects.  The  exact  words  of  Dr.  Griffis  are 
these:  “In  moral  character  the  average  Japanese  is 
frank,  honest,  faithful,  gentle,  courteous,  confiding, 
affectionate,  filial,  loyal.”  But  he  also  adds,  “Love 
of  truth  for  its  own  sake,  purity,  temperance,  are 
not  characteristic  virtues.  Intemperance  is  common, 
and  lying  a  national  vice.  Every  third  marriage  is 
ruptured  by  a  divorce.”  The  immorality  of  the  peo¬ 
ple  as  this  writer  found  it,  was  beyond  description: 
the  books  he  was  given  to  translate  needed  to  be 
purged  of  half  their  contents.  In  social  life  it  was 
no  better;  so-called  respectable  families  often  sell 
their  daughters  for  the  vilest  purposes,  tliemobles 
setting  no  good  examples,  “The  heirs  to  the  throne 
being  born  in  a  herd  and  not  in  a  home.’  The 
court  of  Louis  XV  would  have  been  a  model  of  pro¬ 
priety  in  that  land.  Idolatry  and  superstition  were 
rampant  But  Dr.  Verbeck  says  that  immorality 
proves  a  greater  barrier  to  Christianity  than  idolatry . 


14 


Of  results  it  is  not  so  easy  to  speak,  so  many 
agencies  have  been  at  work  there.  We  will  men¬ 
tion  some  that  came  early,  while  there  were  few 
sources  of  improvement  except  the  missionaries.  In 
1872  the  first  Protestant  Christian  Church  was  estab¬ 
lished.  Following  this  came  the  abolition  of  the  lu¬ 
nar  calendar,  the  adoption  of  the  solar  calendar 
of  Christendom  and  the  removal  of  anti-Christian 
edicts.  The  return  of  the  embassy  from  their  tour 
around  the  world  was  followed  by  the  adoption  of 
foreign  dress.  A  national  army,  navy,  revenue,  ed¬ 
ucational,  postal,  and  other  modern  systems  were 
adopted.  In  much  of  this  the  missionaries  were  in¬ 
direct  agents. 

At  the  present  time  representatives  of  thirty  soci¬ 
eties  are  at  work  among  the  40,000,000  inhabit¬ 
ants.  Connected  with  the  missions  are  many  flour¬ 
ishing  schools,  the  chief  work  of  the  missionaries 
being  educational,  the  natives  preferring  to  do  their 
own  preaching,  for  which  they  have  a  special  fitness. 

Of  one  institution  there  let  us  say  a  word.  The 
Do-shisha,  “One  Bright  Endeavor/’  was  organized 
as  a  Christian  college  inKyotoin  1875  by  the  lament¬ 
ed  Joseph  Neesima.  The  first  class  graduated  in  1879, 
and  there  has  been  a  large  class  every  year  since. 
Three  years  ago  it  was  raised  to  a  university,  and  at 
present  1200  yonng  men  are  studying  there  under  a 
corps  of  able  American  and  native  instructors.  To 


15 


measure  definitely  the  good  influences  at  work  in 
Japan  would  be  as  difficult  as  weighing  the  sunshine. 

In  all  this  we  have  not  touched  some  countries 
where  the  greatest  work  lias'been  done.  Think  out 
for  yourselves  what  the  change  would  be  had  you 
spent  your  life  in  the  dark  interior  of  a  conical 
mound  of  earth  into  which  you  must  crawl  on  hands 
and  knees,  no  window  or  chimney,  no  furniture  or 
bed,  lying  down  at  night  with  dogs  and  vermin;  and 
from  this  been  lifted  into  a  home,  a  house  with  mod¬ 
ern  conveniences,  books  and  papers  which  you  could 
read  and  understand,  and  endearing  associations  such 
as  we  have.  Or  suppose  you  had  worshipped  with 
abject  fear  a  hideous  idol  or  a  venomous  reptile,  and 
had  been  lifted  up  until  you  could  know  and  feel 
that  “The  eternal  God  is  thy  refuge  and  underneath 
are  the  everlasting  arms.” 

This  has  been  the  great  work  of  the  Christian 
missionaries. 


Woman’s  Board  of  Missions  of  the  Interior, 
Room  603,  59  Dearborn  St.,  Chicago. 


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